Bernard Freeman Trotter
by George J. Dance , 1919. ''Courtesy Internet Archive]] Bernard Freeman Trotter (June 16, 1890 - May 7, 1917), was a Canadian poet who died young in World War I.Trotter, Bernard Freeman, 1890-1917, Archives & Research Collections, McMaster University Libraries. Web, Oct. 14, 2013. Life Trotter was born in Toronto, the son of Baptist minister Thomas Trotter. He attended Horton Academy in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where his father was president of Acadia University (1897-1908).Trotter family, McMaster University. Web, May 13, 2019. He completed his high school education at Woodstock College in Woodstock, Ontario. In the fall of 1907 Trotter went to California to improve his health, accompanied by his older brother, Reginald. He worked at a lemon ranch and then taught privately for 2 years. Trotter enrolled in McMaster University in Toronto in 1910, the same year his father joined McMaster faculty as professor of theology. He was active in student life, serving for a year as editor of the McMaster Monthly, the journal in which his earliest published poems appeared. In the late summer and fall of 1912 he helped design and build "Valhalla", the Trotter summer place on Lake Cecebe. A poem of his was accepted for publication in Harper's Magazine in 1914. Trotter earned a B.A. from McMaster in 1915 and began graduate work at the University of Toronto before leaving for England in March 1916. Ill health had prevented him from being accepted for military service in the Canadian army; determined to serve, Trotter won a commission in the British army. After training, he crossed to France with his Leicestershire Regiment in December 1916. On May 7, 1917, he was killed by a shell just as he and his men were completing their final transport convoy of the night. Trotter was buried the next day in the Military Cemetery at Mazingarbe. He was 26 years old. Writing His themes were often chosen from nature; they evoke the Nova Scotia of his boyhood, California, and Northern Ontario. Recognition Thomas Trotter collected his son's poems in 1917, and they were published later that year by McClelland and Stewart as A Canadian Twilight, and other poems of war and peace].Trotter, Bernard Freeman, Canadian Letters. Web, May 13, 2019. Publications *''A Canadian Twilight, and other poems of war and peace'' (with introduction by W.C.W. McLay). Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild, & Stewart, 1917.Search results = au:Bernard Freeman Trotter, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 14, 2013. See also *List of Canadian poets *Timeline of Canadian poetry References Fonds *Bernard Freeman Trotter fonds at McMaster University Notes External links ;Poems *"The Poplars" *Bernard Freeman Trotter at PoemHunter ("A Kiss") ;Books *Bernard Freeman Trotter at Amazon.co.uk ;About *Trotter, Bernard Freeman at Canadian Letters *Second Lieutenant Bernard Freeman Trotter. Died: May 7, 1917, Canadian Great War Project *Second Lieutenant Bernard Freeman Trotter, Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada Category:1890 births Category:1917 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I Category:War poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Poets who died before 30